The Allied invasion of Japan is over. Over 8000 American troops are dead and over 30,000 become prisoners of war. Japanese civilian losses in the campaign are never established precisely but are widely believed to be over 60,000. Japanese military casualties are somewhere over 25,000.

Ohboy. That means over half of the troops landed were lost, and the Allies actually sustained more military casualties than the IJA. Hibiki and her sisters did indeed win a strategic victory. (Wolffpack must be kicking himself over holding back that vital convoy.) An object lesson in getting your ducks in a row before a major thrust. (Tanks. Don't leave home without them.)

Lt. Miharu seems to be in error. First, the USN is a quart low on battleships since two out of the four that were scraped together to support the invasion are now off to the body-and-fender shop for torpedo damage. Second, it seems that the fatal blows from the Allies will now come from the air rather than the sea. I fear that Hibiki has fought her last surface action.

< Message edited by Capt. Harlock -- 9/26/2009 1:45:41 AM >

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Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

Part of the book's lure is the idiosyncracies of its author. He wrote under the pen name "Cuttlefish" and refuses to divulge his identity. Two weeks ago, in an appearance on Oprah, it became clear that he is actually a she - a rare instance of satin and lace in the robust and chest-hair dominated arena of World War II simulation games.

All right, who talked?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Wait just a doggone minute! Dadgum it, I forgot to tell my readers what happened to the Hiei!

“Perhaps lost is not a good way to put it,” says Commander Shunichi, captain of Isokaze. The two men are seated cross legged across a table from one another in one of Wakkanai’s restaurants. The dining establishment is considered one of the best in Wakkanai, though that is perhaps saying little. At the moment Ishii and Shunichi are the only customers.

Shunichi brushes pieces of crab shell from his fingers and dips them in a bowl of water set aside for the purpose. “What happened, as I hear it,” he says, “is that they misjudged their position and could not reach the area of the battle before dawn. When the sun came up they reversed course and went back to Ominato.”

The two men are speaking of Hiei’s battle group, which was, they now know, to have joined in the attack at Fukawa Bay. Ishii shakes his head.

“Who led those ships?” he asks.

“Nishida,” says Shinuchi. “though no longer. He has been relieved.” He pours himself some more tea and looks inquiringly at Captain Ishii. Ishii nods and Shunichi pours some into his cup as well. Wisps of steam rise.

“So I should hope!” says Ishii. Shunichi grins sardonically at him. They both know that incompetence is sometimes rewarded and success punished. That is just the way it is. The two men turn back to their food for a moment, though Ishii is still shaking his head.

“Have you received any orders?” Ishii asks after a few moments. Shinichi shakes his head.

“No,” he says, and sighs. “Perhaps there will be no further orders. Perhaps we will be assigned as escort to Hiei. If there is anything further we can do, if we can somehow leave these northern waters without being blasted from the sea by the enemy’s aircraft.”

Their hostess comes over and stands politely beside the table, waiting to be noticed. Ishii looks up and nods at her.

“I am going to go outside and watch the parade,” she says, smiling at them. “Do you two gentlemen require anything further?”

“Parade?” says Shunichi.

“Yes!” she says, beaming excitedly. “In honor of the great victory this morning!”

“Ah, that parade,” says Shunichi. Ishii shakes his head.

“I do not think we need anything further,” he says quietly. “Enjoy the parade.” She bows and leaves. As the front door opens the sounds of celebration come pouring in from the street. They dim as the door closes, leaving the two naval officers sitting alone in the dimly lit dining room.

There is a cracking noise as Shunichi viciously breaks the shell of another crab.

Taiki and Riku stand by the rail watching two heavily damaged cruisers steam slowly across the harbor towards waiting berths. Everyone on board was surprised and heartened by the mid-morning appearance of the two ships, Tone and Kinugasa. Both are badly shot up and Tone has a slight list to port but that they are here at all is remarkable.

The two men stand together in silence for a while, watching, and then Riku speaks.

“I feel certain,” he says, “that she must be alive.” Taiki says nothing but turns his head and looks at Riku. His friend has spoken little about his wife these last few weeks.

“We overcame the will of Chief Shun,” says Riku. “After that, nothing as small as an enemy army could keep us apart. Besides, remember what the old fortune-teller said on Rabaul? We will have three sons and three daughters. Everything else he said proved true.”

Taiki decides that this is not the time to confess that he arranged that whole business with the old Chinese fortune-teller.

“Then alive she must be,” he agrees. Riku nods. They lapse back into silence again, still watching the cruisers. The morning air is heavy and still and smoke from their funnels trails sluggishly across the water.

“Rabaul,” says Taiki after a time. “That seems like a long time ago.”

“It was,” says Riku. “It has been a long war.”

“Yes,” says Taiki. “Everything before the war seems like a dream, now.”

“And anything after seems impossible to imagine,” says Riku. “As if the war will just go on forever.”

I always find the entries make me sad. I attribute this to CF's great writing and ability to convey emotion with his words. Even when Japan scores a 'victory' as in the repulsion of the American invasion, I am sad, because it means the war will take longer to end, and for our characters, they can not move on with their lives yet. As if they now have to spend more months or years in purgatory.

Everyone on board was surprised and heartened by the mid-morning appearance of the two ships, Tone and Kinugasa. Both are badly shot up and Tone has a slight list to port but that they are here at all is remarkable.

Yes it is. They took four days to return, and somehow dodged the American airpower. But it doesn't sound like they'll be fit for action for the rest of the war.

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Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

I always find the entries make me sad. I attribute this to CF's great writing and ability to convey emotion with his words. Even when Japan scores a 'victory' as in the repulsion of the American invasion, I am sad, because it means the war will take longer to end, and for our characters, they can not move on with their lives yet. As if they now have to spend more months or years in purgatory.

For some reason, a speck of sand always finds its way into my eyes when reading these posts. Must clean the computer more often, I guess.

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Appear at places to which he must hasten; move swiftly where he does not expect you. Sun Tzu

As some have speculated, the Imperial Japanese Navy has fought its last significant battle. Hibiki and the other surviving ships are not given any real further opportunities to sortie; for the next two months the Allies wage a relentless strategic bombing campaign against Japan, culminating in the unleashing of the atomic bomb.

We have come a long way in this war with our small ship. I have been writing this for more than two and half years now and have enjoyed all of it. But all good things come to an end and I have decided that, rather than do a day by day chronicle of the last two months, I will begin bringing this AAR to a close.

We aren’t quite done yet; there will be several more regular entries, followed by an analysis of the game and a number of epilogues. I hope to wrap this up properly.

In the meantime there is a new kid on the block, AE. I have begun my first PBEM there and will probably start a conventional (mostly) AAR for that game very shortly. Once I have gotten used to AE and caught my breath from writing “Small Ship” I will start a new AAR along the lines of this one, though I haven’t decided on the exact format or even which side I will play.

Thank you so much, everyone who has read this. The interest and enthusiasm you have shown are not only what have kept me at this for so long, they have pushed me to try and keep making it better. I’m looking forward to bringing “Small Ship” to a good conclusion and to writing the next one.